Critter Tale

LOOKING INNOCENT—Much to her owners’ relief, Amanda, a black Australian shepherd, appeared at a police station after a night on the town. Amanda is a black Australian shepherd. A few years ago, before we moved to Calabasas, my wife and I lived in a community with liberal leash laws. We had trained 7-year-old Amanda to walk with us without a leash. She stayed at our side as we walked near our home.

One evening after dark, something in the bushes near the sidewalk frightened Amanda and she bolted into the night. We walked and called for her until well past midnight, but to no avail.

Early the next morning, we searched again for several hours. Finally, in desperation, we visited a nearby CHP station to ask about our missing pet. We walked through the glass doors to the reception desk in the lobby and asked if any reports had come in about a found or injured black dog. The officer at the desk scratched his head and said no such reports had come in.

But there was a black dog standing outside the glass doors looking in. There was Amanda, looking at us with her tongue hanging out as if laughing, none the worse for her adventure.

She had voluntarily turned herself in to the police. Randall Harvey Calabasas